A Gift of the Spirit

Every once-in-a-while I find myself in a thrift store like St. Vincent DePaul or Goodwill looking for something or just browsing for no specific thing.

On one such occasion (while spending February in Naples, Florida, and leaving behind my frozen face in Michigan) I stumbled upon the book section and saw an audio children’s bible on two C.D.s. They were like new and looked as if they had never been played. In a flash of inspiration I thought, “These C.D.s would be perfect for my four-year-old grandson.” I thought, I bought.

On my journey back to Michigan I listened to both of the C.Ds. to be sure that they were orthodox. (You never know these days.) The kid in me still enjoyed them! They had all the great stories like Noah, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David and the like. So I gave them as a special gift (no reason necessary—I am grandpa) to my grandson.

My daughter works part-time and on those days she drives my grandson to a day-care center. So my daughter popped in the Bible C.D. as she drove him there. He loved listening to his C.D. on his way to and from day-care. It has quite naturally led to more of their discussion time being about God than had been happening.

After the first round of stories, Grandpa got an enthusiastic phone call with that all important thank you!

I am sure that I had less than two dollars invested in this gift, but to hear the little one retell these Bible stories to Grandpa was worth more than a million to me.

Sometimes being a strategic grandfather just means being attentive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I wasn’t looking for a gift at the time, but the Spirit was looking to give me one that I could give to my grandson, and in the process bless my daughter and me as well.

There are a lot of children’s audio bibles for free on iTunes and at the Google Playstore as well. They are easily downloaded to your tablet, computer, or cellphone. Still, my grandson treasured his C.D.s more than an electronic download because they were a gift from Grandpa—and the Holy Spirit.

Bill Navarre is the grandfather of 13 and lives in Clark Lake, Michigan.